1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates generally to Internet technologies, and more specifically, to web-based advertising.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A basic problem for publishers of content on the Internet is how to match available advertising, whether in the form of banners, text, or rich media, with content. Current approaches to this problem include Google's AdSense program. The AdSense program allows a website publisher to dynamically serve relevant advertisements on web pages by analyzing text on a web page and automatically selecting ads based on the page content. The AdSense program also allows for the website publisher to provide explicit “hints” in the form of keywords to suggest associations of content. In any case, if a visitor selects (e.g., clicks on) one of the AdSense ads served to the website, the website publisher is credited for the referral and is provided a fee. Google's AdSense program essentially allows approved websites to dynamically serve Google's advertisements paid for by advertisers.
Website maintenance related to the AdSense program requires very little effort. Webmasters need only to insert a Google-generated java script program into the web page or website template. A well-known spider program parses the website upon which the AdSense program is associated and serves ads that relate to the website's content. The AdSense program uses a combination of keyword matching and context analysis to determine what ads should be served. The java script program calls the ad from a Google website and ensures that ads are served each time a visitor loads a web page. AdSense also implements a filtering system that allows webmasters to prevent a specific domain's ads from being served on any websites in their account. By performing ad blocking, webmasters could prevent their competitor's ads from being dynamically served on their websites.